BBC Learning English
Keep Your English Up To Date
8th December 2009
To be angsty
The word angst, meaning neurotic fear, anxiety, guilt or remorse comes from German, but has
been used in English since the 1940s. It comes from the same root as the word anger, and was
originally popularised in English through translations of the work of psychoanalyst Sigmund
Freud.
The word has more recently adapted however, and now teenagers are much more likely to talk
about feeling angsty. When they complain about not being understood by anyone, or that they
are alone in the world, they are feeling angsty. When they insist that you could never know
how terrible it feels to them, how the whole world wants to destroy them, they do it because
they are feeling angsty. An angsty person feels completely unloved, unwanted, disrespected,
ignored.
Some cruel people might suggest that those who feel angsty are just looking for attention. But
these people don t understand us. And they never will!
Mark Shea has been a teacher and teacher trainer for eighteen years. He has taught English
and trained teachers extensively in Asia and South America, and is a qualified examiner for
the University of Cambridge oral examinations. He is currently working with journalists at
the World Service and is the author of the BBC College of Journalism's online English tutor.
Keep Your English Up To Date © British Broadcasting Corporation 2009
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